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Video production is not a usual arm of a translation agency, although in our case it makes perfect sense: for one our linguistic partners all happen to have extensive experience in music and media production, but more importantly we realize by combining video production with our language services we can start localizing your campaign (promos, commercials, etc.) for different markets from day one, not after the expensive production is done, in English. In our experience when agencies try to campaign globally, countless times as language vendors we've had to re-adapt voice-over scripts (translated by other contracted agencies or individuals) even though the translation is "correct", or suggest to the creative people that certain lines/scenes just won't work in China (or Japan, India, Korea). English creative writers at these agencies don't think in Chinese or Japanese and their outside consultants or outsourced translators are not always on the same page. When ad agencies and translation agencies don't work together, something is bound to be "lost in translation", we figured.

Case study 1:HSBC commercial scene: U.S. girl behind a home-made lemonade stand in front of her house speaks Mandarin and takes Yuan from a Chinese mother and boy. Great idea, except there's no home-made lemonade stand in China, not legally, so audience in China would have to get over the stand first (why is this little blonde girl taking Chinese money in a nice single-house neighborhood?) to get to the intended "global currency" concept behind the scene.

Case study 2:Priceline commercial scene: Captain Kirk (W. Shatner) fights off a bunch of Kungfu masters to get to the Sensei (who's looking for a deal online) and says in a very convincing tone: "It's not a deal. It's a negotiation." Since no cultural consideration was given prior to the shoot, a direct translation into Mandarin was prepared for the final version (它是谈判) and would have left most Chinese viewers wondering what just happened, and totally missing the point of "a negotiation is even better than a deal".

Our partnership with TV/film director & producer HU Xu allows us to put a close-knit integrated text-voice-video mechanism under one roof and produce competitively priced and culturally appropriate media content for you! Our years of experience in localization are now greatly complimented by an amazing bi-cultural visual artist who can direct, produce, edit TV & film, as well as translate and interpret (see bio for HU Xu's international TV & film credits and production samples). Our translators/voice talents of diverse cultural backgrounds can get involved in your multi-language project from day one so that you can avoid unnecessary and often expensive mistakes from the get-go. Our multi-cultural team knows what works (more importantly what doesn't work) in a certain market and will evaluate your project to see if certain localizations would be needed to suit different markets. With us, you can rest assured that your project will receive the kind of personal attention only a boutique production approach can offer.